Jingthing

That's fair. There are stupid expats who should have never come and stupid stay at homes. It sounds like you're describing people that are simply ill informed about the options in the world. That alone doesn't make then stupid.

Because Hamas are terrorists. There is another border there.

Military targets are allowed in war. If an enemy is using human shields that's their fault.

So on that money their life back home would be what? I'm not saying no money.

I haven't been to Mexico in a long time but I'm hearing that it's gotten a lot more Americanized. Not necessarily a good thing. Also of course the dollar ain't what it used to be there.

Better a shoe box than no box or your box costing most of your income.

Looking forward to watching this one:

How does that make you feel?

So you can't keep away from it then.

As far as the being there for family question (or the family being there for you) for those that still have those kinds of connections, depending on your home country, you can move closer to your home country. It's no mystery why there are millions of American expats in Mexico. That doesn't work for everyone of course because of a funny thing called geography.

Then don't read or post to it. The topic is clearly of interest to many people based on the high level of engagement. But so is Mexican wrestling.

Good one.

I'm not saying that retiring abroad to a lower cost country is a good idea for all poorer oldsters. But it's obvious to me all poorer oldsters should at least consider it. Because the benefits of doing so even factoring in the downsides are often spectacular.

You're not wrong but certainly the rent is cheaper in most retirement destinations countries. You can live a virtual life of anywhere most anywhere. A feature not a bug.

Perhaps so but as I said before there are other options.

As far as the theory that it takes a special type to enjoy living abroad, with the internet and globalization, I think that has become much less true.

This reminds me of a personal experience I had when I was 15. I had backpacked around Europe for the summer with a few friends. Such freedom adventure, and so many bottles of wine. When I arrived back to the US in the car with my parents approaching my sterile hometown suburb (wine not allowed under 18), I literally screamed in anguish. Yeah, my poor parents, ha ha.

There will always be a plethora of more off the beaten track destinations that aren't corrupted. We have no control in how home countries treat expats.

Some do. Most don't.

I also agree with that. If you've never seen places abroad and think I could live here you just won't know.

I call B.S. Dirt cheap rent in dirt cheap areas for a basic apartment in the U.S. is usually at least 800 dollars a month. People on low level social security often have a check of 1000 or so. Do the math. Sure it's different if a person owns their home clear.

Sure there's that. There's also the "safety" canard especially for Latin America. Living in the U.S. for example as a poor person even if you do have a roof is usually incredibly unsafe. Poverty kills. If the same money can lift you out of poverty somewhere else, what a blessing that can be.

But they could get one and it's a pretty good passport as well.

That may be so but still beats living in a car and <deleted>ting in a bucket! I'm above that level here but for quite modest levels of wealth and income I have a set up that I couldn't replicate in the U.S. for under at least a million dollars, more like two. There are retirement destination countries where you can qualify for 600 dollars a month income and perhaps I'm wrong but I don't think Cambodia even checks income for retirement status. Or there is the Philippines option of only needing to do a visa run every three years.

I've had this thought for years now. You hear about oldsters living in cars in the U.S. for example but they do have a social security income but can't afford rent. Obviously each person has their own specific personal and financial situation and there are good reasons for poor retired people to stay home, but in many cases I see not moving abroad to live a much better quality of life on a low income as basically stupid. Not only to Thailand of course. For Thailand, a person with low income would need to be able to do the 800K baht thing but many poorer retirees do have that level of a very modest life savings. So why do so many that could greatly benefit by moving abroad fail to do so? Other than good reasons (such as strong family support, too physically ill to do it, etc.). I can only speculate. I assume many just don't know about and/or have failed to do the research on the options open to them at their finance level. I know that many people assume that living abroad is a "glamourous" option only for rich people. Some are probably ultra nationalist xenophobe types that think as bad as things are for them personally their home country still offers them the best of all possible worlds. Some may be afraid of foreign languages. Some that might know of some options may simply be afraid of such a big change. In my view, living in a car and <deleted>ting in a bucket is something to fear much more than living abroad! So back to the question: Do you think (most) financially struggling western retirees are stupid for not retiring abroad?